Hyde Park's Downside Joyride checks in with a rockin' record filled with huge guitars and searching vocals, and a dream of something more just over the horizon. The band fires on all cylinders with hair band riffage and swagger though thankfully without the sophomoric themes.

The brainchild of singer-songwriter and guitarist Todd Mihan, the combo also includes Michael Hamel on bass, Michael Morrison on guitar and Chris Trainor on drums, and was produced and engineered by Mahin at his studio in Hyde Park. Guitars saturate this CD, but it's Mihan's voice -- full of the requisite rasp but with humility and empathy seeping through -- that sets the tone

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Mihan is on a roll as of late, winning songwriting contests and playing guitar on Tommy Lee's new record "A Public Disservice Announcement." And he has opened for Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Kings X and others.

Though strong and forceful, the songs lack of the pretentious and posing chest beating inherent in this style. In it's place, sounds about live love and question of why, in many ways, Hyde Park's answer to Asbury Park.

"Dead" is a straight-ahead riff-driven rocker, but these days, that's what passes for country music, so he might find a home there as well. In "GNN," he shows of his considerable guitar skills -- flashy, yet not self-indulgent. The poignant "Long Way Home" shows Mihan at his emotional finest.

Downside Joyride is a fine young band relying on substance over smoke and mirrors. It's about time.